Symbolism, archetypes, and universal concepts

SYMBOLISM, ARCHETYPES, AND UNIVERSAL CONCEPTS

Jack Harper

An exploration of abstraction, symbolic art, visual language, and its value in reflecting universal themes and ideas

“Because there are innumerable things beyond the range of human understanding, we constantly use symbolic terms to represent concepts that we cannot define or fully comprehend. This is one reason why all religions employ symbolic language or images. But this conscious use of symbols is only one aspect of a psychological fact of great importance: Man also produces symbols unconsciously and spontaneously, in the form of dreams.�

Carl Jung: Man and His Symbols (1964)

CONTENTS Introduction Abstract, publication aims Background and main ideas

Prehistoric symbolism Early signs and symbols Cultural, historical significance

Arts and literature Symbolism as an artistic movement Progression towards modern day use

Archetypes and psychology Background to Jungian psychology Archetypes as a model of characteristics

Greater significance How it effects modern communication What does this all mean? Why does it matter?

Bibliography Websites, sources in order of use Content and image sources

01 07 41 71 95 99

INTRODUCTION

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Introduction When we evaluate the skills that are definitive of the capabilities we as a human race have, it is hard to come up with one definitive answer. To name a few, we can speak, read, write, and communicate with one another in great detail through language and the development of consciousness, which allowed our ancestor’s primal brains to evolve into what we have now; the ability to see the world around us through an analytical, conscious perspective - being able to rationalise, wonder, and observe the world and its nature. This evolutionary edge we have lets us create meaning and explanations to our surroundings, a trait we take for granted that our ancestors didn’t have.

We can see this trait demonstrated in academic studies, literature, visual arts and many modes of expression. Especially in visual arts we can see subjective, more expressive themes and ideas portrayed; since people depict their own experiences and are empathetic to others. The main point here is that we can evaluate what’s happening around us as well as how we feel within ourselves, a skill we have through our thought, language and ways of communicating.

The building blocks that form our language are based on meaning making (semiotics), association and various kinds of symbols including icons, pictograms, glyphs, graphic and image based, illustrative symbols. This is indicative of the human need of communicating to each other and understanding the world through forming these meanings and associations in language, sciences, and the arts.

Language in itself has also evolved over the years. Just like human consciousness, language has grown to be much more complex than it was in its early years.

When comparing different languages that are used today to ancient languages in the past, it’s hard to tell which one is more complex; however it is fair to say that modern languages can be more specific in certain details, while ancient languages are comprised of graphic symbols and glyphs, expressing more abstract ideas and meanings tied to the symbols rather than language as we know it today; built up of alphabets capable of explaining to a high degree of accuracy.

How is symbolism useful or significant?

Although language has evolved over time to turn into a more descriptive and accurate medium, that’s not to say that abstraction in terms of communication is a dated practice.

Just because we have the knowledge to use descriptive, logical language it doesn’t imply we shouldn’t utilise the metaphorical, figurative, symbolic styles of conveying feelings and ideas to others. In fact it could even be better to use ambiguous and symbolic ways of description for abstract terms, especially things that can’t be described; this is because you convey the essence of the subject rather than risking that you won’t do it justice with a certain way of describing it. When faced with the challenge of describing something intangible or abstract it is often better to use ambiguous and abstract means to communicate that idea as you tap into the feeling and essence of the idea, which is arguably better than an inaccurate description that doesn’t capture the point at hand.

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The nature of Symbolism: material vs invisible Within the study of hermeneutics (the study of interpretation, particularly in literature) it is said that symbols contain two halves, which are separate in two entities: that in the symbol itself and the latter which is the viewer.

The two parts have a codependent relationship as the symbol is the physical representation of the idea, whilst the viewer holds the invisible idea in their knowledge. The symbol acts as the signifier for the meaning, the viewer as the discoverer and maker of the meaning. This ultimately implies that symbols have no inherent meaning in themselves, but rather they reflect the ideas and concepts that people sought to express or convey in essence; which is due to the abstract nature of the concepts hence resorting to symbolism as a way to depict them. F. Facchini summarises concisely that “the function of a symbol is to reveal a total reality, inaccessible by other means of knowledge”.

Symbolic expressions of human behaviour In the study ‘Symbolism in Prehistoric Man’, Facchini also explores how symbolism not only comes into effect in language and visual arts; but how it also acts as a manifestation indicative of the relationship between man and the collective/the sacred - it acts as an anchor in which we see our subjective positions in our lives in comparison to the objective reality around us. We can see this in human development in the Neolithic period, when man let go of nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyles in favour of a more agriculturally complex and varied society in terms of its different groups of people and their increasing ability to communicate and measure ideas with one another. Not only did this development bring forth a more advanced way of expression, but it also bought about a greater sense of projected meaning to the world around us. For example, one can now associate a house with a sense of security and family as opposed to the literal meaning of shelter it carried before. Similarly ones clothing choices can also express a social or stylistic meaning as opposed to just serving the purpose of clothing, protecting the body. In essence, symbolic thought is a key factor in the development of cognitive thought processes, however, it is not the main catalyst for modern human behaviour, as H. Christopher describes, “it is the use of symbolism to organise behaviour…humans were first behaviourally modern when symbols became an intrinsic part of their daily lives”.

The sign and signal Before we explore symbolism and visual language further we must define what exactly constitutes a symbol. To explore this issue, we will touch on aspects of semiotics - which is the study of signs, symbols and how they are interpreted to form meaning. A fundamental concept in semiotics is the idea of the sign and its relation to the signal. When speaking of the topic in terms of its everyday use, the sign is the symbol and the signal is the meaning, and it’s agreed that they have an inherent relationship with each other.

We can then say that verbs and nouns in language are synonymous with how the terms sign, signal, representation, and names are indicative of the functions “to signify”, “to mean”, “to refer to” and to “indicate”.

However, the main issue regarding the concept of the sign in semiotics is not coming to a conclusion that differentiates those terms from each other; rather the aim is to find what the terms have in common.

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The difference in evaluating symbols from an academic standpoint to a semiotic one is that less forms of language- both figurative and visual will fall under the category of ‘sign’ in the everyday sense of the word.

While on the other hand most products of language and its foundations are regarded as sign in semiotics. For example, “sign language” is referred to as sign by most people although the verbal and written language we use doesn’t fall into the same category, for semioticians however, both these languages are forms of sign; just as the words “sign language” describe a language, the letters that form the word are also signs in itself.

This is significant in relation to this publication as to explore symbolism and visual language in its full potential, we must evaluate modes of communication that are deemed ‘symbolic’ due to its appearance, but also those that don’t seem symbolic but in fact are just as expressive and abstract in they nature. This goes to show that a sign may possess a certain association and meaning, however that meaning can have an extra dimension added through aesthetic, contextual and stylistic features too.

In essence, there are symbols that are obviously symbolic on a superficial level, as people turn to those immediately for certain contexts (i.e. sign language, road signs, caution labels) however that’s not to say the less obvious signs don’t help communicate the ideas any clearer (letters and forms that form a language, yellow/white road lines, colours on caution signs). To arrive at a well rounded understanding of this topic, one must evaluate the direct and indirect, the visible and invisible, the sign and signal to hopefully reach an understanding of the co-dependent nature of symbols and its how they are expressed.

Historical and cultural contexts It is important to consider the background and contexts behind symbolism and language in order to attain a better understanding of their meanings and significance. If you study a set of symbols or artwork from prehistoric times but interpret them through a modern frame of reference, your evaluation may turn out skewed in meaning or completely wrong. This idea seems strange as the credibility of symbolism is built on the basis that they convey an idea understood collectively by people to a certain degree; however the nature of how they work is based on the codependent relationship between the symbols meaning and the frame of interpretation of the viewer. This association process is also largely predetermined by concepts and ideas currently abundant in the viewers frame of mind and the society they are a part of. The symbol doesn’t exist without the viewers associations which is to also say the viewers may not have a way of describing a certain idea without the symbol.

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Design problem: To evaluate and research how symbols and abstraction in art and culture are significant in reflecting and understanding collective concepts in the human psyche.

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Analysis and approach With the above being said, in order to arrive at conclusions of substance and validity we need to formulate a way of analysing symbols and visual language in a way that is critical, evaluative, and the most suitable for evaluating this scope of language that is ambiguous and flexible in its different possibilities of meaning. Although it may be hard to arrive at a certain understanding of their contents and meanings- especially with dated signs and symbols with little evidence surrounding it, we can do our best to gain a well rounded analysis of the language by considering their uses in relation to the historical context, the universal and collective meanings that were common at the time, and the obvious and subtle elements of the composition that may or may not affect the meaning and perception.

This approach aims to find the literal, contextual and stylistic features of symbolism as a way of critically exploring what makes it effective, how the meaning is formed and associated, and its significance overall. In essence, this will help us evaluate the content in a level of detail that semioticians evaluate language in; a way of evaluating the visuals in a way that is critical of all elements that formulate it, instead of evaluating only the elements that would be deemed ‘symbolic’ in the everyday sense of the word.

For the purpose of researching our topic in this publication, in relation to our aim of finding underlying themes and concepts collectively present in artwork and language both old and new - we will briefly explore art of the Paleolithic era. In order to concisely evaluate the culture and artworks in a way appropriate to our objective, we will touch on historical, cultural and technological backgrounds of that era to an extent enough to contextualise the visuals and symbolism of that time period.; but not in so much depth as to turn it into an anthropological or archeological study. Even though this subject is relevant to those fields in many ways, we are exploring the visuals, semiotics and meaning making processes behind the symbolic language thus the historical and cultural background is central to the research, however it is a secondary element in terms of the area we are researching.

“Symbolization constitutes the deep core of the human psyche, a specific expression of man’s cognitive activity.”

F. Facchini

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PART 1: PREHISTORIC SYMBOLISM AND PALEOLITHIC ART

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Prehistoric symbolism and early language Studying and exploring the origins of our written and spoken language is an issue that fascinates many people. There are scientists, historians and anthropologists today that devote their careers to studying this topic which reflects our curiosity towards how language came about in the first place. Despite there being professionals and academics dedicated to the research, it is still hard to arrive at universally agreed conclusions of how, when or why language began its development. This is because when we study topics with historical and literal implications there must be written records of information to prove or disprove theories against; for example, a history student cannot critically study a point in time if there was no written records or proof from that period.

The issue here is that we are exploring the origins of visual language and how it was used, but with no informative records of how it was used or why. The only information we have is sightings of the visual language itself, no certain meanings behind the language or accounts written of its nature back then.

All we have to work with is the recordings of their locations and time periods used (as discovered to date) and the patterns we can conclude from that by considering the cultures, time periods and composition of the visuals. Some may say that this makes this study purely speculative, as it is hard to arrive at objective conclusions; however that’s not to say there is no value in evaluating these old mediums of communication, as we can still find parallels between common concepts in society then and now - despite the ambiguity of the visuals.

Background: the Paleolithic era The furthest back in history we will explore for the purpose of this publication is the middle Paleolithic era, which spans in the period approximately between 200 thousand BC and 50 thousand BC. This time period is significant as it is known as when the oldest cave paintings and art forms were made.

We will briefly explore the cultural and historical background of the Paleolithic era to gain a brief understanding of the time period, its culture, and methods of communication.

The Paaeolithic era was characterised by a very primitive, nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle. This was also the same era in which humans began developing the first set of tools, which was said to be made of stone, wood and bone - this invention was the precursor to language and drawing/writing. paleolithic - adjective The remains from that era is mainly in cave paintings and Anthropology. of, relating to, or small sculptures they made. characteristic of the cultures of the In terms of culture, the people of this era also had a strong late Pliocene and the Pleistocene belief of spirituality, which is apparent in their artwork; epochs, or early phase of the Stone J.P. Miller & P. Robinson believes that their images “may have Age, which appeared first in Africa been stylized from mundane images of everyday life - tools, and are marked by the steady weapons, housing - and some may have been truly abstract development of stone tools and later shapes which could very well be symbolic representations antler and bone artifacts, engravings of important concepts and ideas, or the manifestations of on bone and stone, sculpted figures, transcendent, shamanistic experiences in the form of visual and paintings and engravings on the hallucinations.� walls of caves and rock-shelters.

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Were early pictographs indicative of early forms of visual language and universal concepts or were they simply an emergent property of a shift in neural, cognitive, and genetic development in humans?

When evaluating the little visual artwork and symbolism remaining from that period, it is important to understand what methods defined their ways of communicating visually.

The cave paintings remaining from that time are made up of “Pictographs”, which refers to “an image, sign or symbol which is created in order to express some idea or information”. These graphic marks and signs are widespread in caves around Europe, with new discoveries being made up until today - making these pictographs and artwork a topic of fascination for many people.

A topic of great discussion regarding Paleolithic art among archaeologists and scientists is determining what the driving aim or occurrence was that triggered humans to begin forming aspects of visual language - if there was one at all, and whether or not it was for communicative purposes or not.

Conflicts in perceived significance The discussion regarding the significance and meaning of Paleolithic cave paintings are a very divisive topic amongst researchers, leading some to believe that the works are reflective of humans early intellectual, artistic development, and expressing common trends and concepts present in cultures at the time. On the other hand, the latter view believes that there was no forms of language or development of tools until 35,000 years ago, during a period of great creativity in Europe called the “Great Leap Forward”.

Common subjects and symbols found in caves in Europe: Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc cave - France Despite the difficulty in making new findings in this field, new discoveries have been made and more sightings of Paleolithic art, cave paintings, signs and symbols that seem to appear in many places in different regions. These sights are said to be made in the same time period too. This forms a pattern which makes us wonder if there was indeed a set of signs and symbols that were intended for communication purposes or was it purely illustrative, and not intended to carry any specific idea or message?

To evaluate examples of sightings of cave paintings that suggests a common symbols across cultures, we will look into the cave paintings of the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc cave, which is said to be one of the oldest sites of prehistoric art to date.

The walls within the Chauvet cave contains images of wild and dangerous animals, including lions, bulls, bisons and even mammoths. They would be arranged and executed to a fair degree of complexity and detail, showing us that our ancestors were capable of artistic, decorative qualities. Pablo Picasso even visited the Chauvet caves and remarked “We have invented nothing” in regards to decorative, stylistic elements of the paintings. N. Collins also states that “both the content of the imagery and the artistic techniques used to create them, came as a major surprise”.

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The figurative and artistic qualities of the art found in these caves is what fascinated and intrigued archeologists

Not only were their techniques impressive, but alongside the large paintings of animals often symbols and signs were found, which often went unrecognised but would soon prove significant later on.

These symbols that were once overlooked, are now being explored deeper by researchers such as Genevieve von Petzinger, who is a Paleoanthropologist that has taken on looking for parallels in cave symbolism. Von Petzinger is an example of one of the modern researchers trying to find out more about this mysterious topic.

Her belief in the potential of visual symbols and shapes for communication, both modern and ancient, is also reflective of the purpose of this publication. The purpose of her work is so she can be able to “open her data so others can build on it, and aims to keep uncovering new art and clues about how those shapes connect to how we communicate today”. Her work is relevant as she is putting an idea we are exploring to test, which is regarding how our “ancestors moved from representing ideas realistically – as in those beautiful images of bisons and mammoths – to the stage where they began to represent concepts symbolically”.

When looking at von Petzingers research, it’s important to make clear that the patterns being found behind the repeated use of the symbols is more important than the symbols themselves. The artwork has been studied time and time again for years, however putting them in a database is the next step in finding out more about our ancestors language, and shedding light on the division of whether or not language predated the “Great Leap Forward” in Europe and infact existed far before humans migrated up North from Africa.

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“She started by compiling a database of the geometric signs found at the nearly 370 known rock art sites across the continent. From there, she identified gaps in the inventories at many sites and by exploring the rarely documented sites — with her husband, photographer/filmmaker Dillon von Petzinger, to capture the images — she made discoveries that hold tantalizing implications about the origin of art and the evolution of human cognition.”

P. D’Arcy (2017) on von Petzingers research

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A reproduction of the 32 common symbols found in von Petzingers research

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The significance of von Petzingers findings are summarised well by editor of New Scientist, Alison George: “Perhaps the most startling finding was how few signs there were – just 32 in all of Europe. For tens of thousands of years, our ancestors seem to have been curiously consistent with the symbols they used. This, if nothing else, suggests that the markings had some sort of significance.

‘Of course they mean something,’ says French prehistorian Jean Clottes. ‘They didn’t do it for fun.’ The multiple repetitions of the P-shaped claviform sign in France’s Niaux cave ‘can’t be a coincidence’, he argues.”

(George 2016)

Other theories and explanations A popular belief is also one more based on the neural and cognitive developments of the human brain. Many archaeologists look to the process of the human brain evolving as an explanation of why we began to create images and art.

South African archeologist David Lewis-Williams suggests a “neuropsychological interpretation” as a means of evaluating art from this time.

This perspective is based on the knowledge that Paleolithic people were very spiritual.

As mentioned earlier, their art depicts tangible symbols of animals and figures, but alongside very abstract, geometric forms which are said to be alluding to spiritual and Shamanistic concepts.

However, this theory goes beyond the geometric symbols; researchers believe that the geometric signs could be indicative of universal processes and characteristics that emerged from the visual cortex of our brains, leading our ancestors to see the same shapes, patterns, and symbols, irrespective of their location.

A common hypothesis of what causes these cerebral processes is often due to migraines, near death experiences, and Shamanistic rituals triggered by hallucinogens. Professor J.P. Miller & P. Robinson, supporters of this neuropsychological perspective, comments: “The geometric forms can be perceived directly during hallucinations, and this supports the hypotheses by Heinrich Klüver, David LewisWilliams and Jeremy Dronfield, that rock paintings by shamanistic artists are simply an accurate record of the artists’ visions: the artists could have been drawing what they were seeing, in a very literal sense.”

This alludes to distortions in the visual cortex of the brain- both by natural processes like migraines and hallucinogenic Shamanic practices too. The significance of these distortions is that even if they were drug-induced or natural, the same visuals, patterns and images would emerge; and since it was forming in our visual cortexes at the time, these images are deemed to be “natural motifs” for our brains. Not only does this explain how widespread the images are, it also suggests it is why they are so aesthetically pleasing and seemingly ‘universal’ in their use and appearance.

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A NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION

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This theory relating to the spiritual and cerebral/hallucinogenic defines a group of people that believe there is a universal theme and process underlying prehistoric art and also present in art today.

Not only are the same subjects and symbols depicted, but the aesthetic style of prehistoric art often parallels art from more recent years; as J.P. Miller & P. Robinson (2011) argues: “The freshness and ‘modernism’ of the Chauvet images can be readily compared with those of Chagall and Marc.”

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Findings in neuroscience Based on modern scientific research of the properties of our brain, nerve interactions, and its visual system, we can now predict the neural processes that contributes to forming the common distorted images outlined above.

In summary, what we see from our eyes is transmitted through nerve cells to the back of our brain, the visual cortex, where the distortions would occur. The ingoing images would generate a feedback pattern in the visual cortex when undergoing sensory deprivation, migraines or hallucinogenic states.

Parallels between hallucinations and neural distortions with prehistoric art Although hallucinations, neural distortions and its relation to prehistoric art may seem insignificant at first, it is an important part of the discussion of its origins and influences as the two are prevalent characteristics of the people and their lifestyle at the time. The influence of distortion and hallucination points to why a lot of prehistoric art has widespread motifs and a common style. The modern neuropsychological perspectives also suggests a more neural approach focused on the development of our brain and how it influenced our perception.

The idea of “natural motifs” mentioned earlier suggests a reason for the widespread use and appearance of the images - that being the images are made up of patterns and visuals that emerge from natural distortions in the visual cortex, thus appearing in many cultures and locations.

Top: Photograph of a section of cave painting in the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave Bottom: “The Tower of Blue Horses” (1913) - Franz Marc

On the other hand, they also believe the images reflect hallucinatory experiences too, due to the uncanny similarity between models of visual hallucinations and recordings of certain prehistoric artwork. For example, computer models of the visual cortex have a stunning resemblance to prehistoric artwork found in sites in Europe However, the question still remains whether these images emerged directly from hallucinations or were they simply producing images and patterns they felt were harmonious and pleasing to their perception? Regardless of the possibilities, the study of these neural processes and concepts gives depth to our argument; specifically giving insight into the neurological and cognitive development of people at the time and its influence on their art.

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David Lewis-Williams considers the artistic similarities of prehistoric societies separate in time and place: ‘Was there an underlying, not easily detected, bedrock of belief that expressed itself in contrasting ways? In geological terms, was there a subterranean chamber of molten rock that rose to the surface in different places to form batholiths, each similar to others in its origin but each shaped by the forces of erosion to display its own hills and valleys? Today, many archaeologists are reluctant to seek generalities of this kind.

They prefer to see each society as possessing its own unique culture, that is, the set of beliefs and norms that individuals learn from birth and with which they creatively interact. There is, of course, truth in the concept of the uniqueness of human cultures, but it is by no means the whole story’.

D. Lewis-Williams & D. Pearce 2005 (J.P. Miller & P. Robinson, 2011)

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The above is a well written summary of one of the common perspectives people have towards the significance of prehistoric art and what it says about societies back then. While a group of people believe that the art of the Paleolithic was made through random marks and patterns brought about by chance, which carries no meaning and has no greater significance to humanity as a whole, the opposing group of people believe that studying this period of artwork and its artefacts is crucial to attain an understanding of human development in terms of communication, expression and cognition. Remains from the Paleolithic period signpost many topics, ranging from the apparent departure from hunter-gatherer lifestyles, to the first appearances of common visual language as seen in von Petzinger’s research, and finally, it leads us to try to evaluate the events and processes which catalysed the growth of the human mind into being capable of more complex cognitive and expressive functions, irrespective of culture and place as this evolution seemed to happen simultaneously.

This lead researchers like J.P Miller and P. Robinson to suggest a fresh, all-encompassing view of the issue, suggesting a way of describing the evolution in a more universal, collective view as opposed to one based on separate cultures and their separate development - this perspective towards Paleolithic art is one that suggests a common trend in communication and artistic qualities, both in the mediums and the underlying themes.

These ideas are significant to this publication as it points to the possibility of prehistoric art containing common, universal concepts and themes brought about by the development of human social and cognitive evolution.

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“The geometric forms can be perceived directly during hallucinations, and this supports the hypotheses by Heinrich Klüver, David Lewis-Williams and Jeremy Dronfield, that rock paintings by 19

SYMBOLS, ARCHETYPES, AND UNIVERSAL CONCEPTS

shamanistic artists are simply an accurate record of the artists’ visions: the artists could have been drawing what they were seeing, in a very literal sense.”

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“ O ur ability to rep with an abstract uniquely human.”

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resent a concept symbol is (George, 2016)

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GALLERY: Well known cultural symbols, their meanings and common underlying concepts

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When we break down the meanings of religious and cultural symbols from various countries over the years, the meanings they contain may be specific to their cultural and national context, however they often have parallels between each other that are not apparent initially.

Just as many cultures made similar developments in technology and as a society over similar times irrespective of their locations, a similar common theme is applicable to many well known, widespread symbols from various cultures.

The following pages contains 12 symbols from various cultures that have different cultural and regional origins but all have a shared theme or message in one way or another through in their underlying meanings.

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Yin and Yang

This well known symbol in Chinese philosophy expresses how forces that appear to be opposites to each other are in fact complementary and interdependent from one another.

This then implies that these complementary elements bring each other into existence due to their interlinked relationship in being opposites of a similar idea.

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Flower of Life

With widespread uses in modern and ancient culture, this symbol is a shape comprised of overlapping circles arranged harmoniously. It is the most popular symbol of sacred geometry which is an ancient belief of certain shapes containing the fundamental solid forms of nature formed by constructing them in the circles. There are also other related symbols such as Metatrons cube and the seed of life.

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Ankh

The Ankh is a very well known Egyptian symbol appearing in hieroglyphics and commonly made into tattoos.

It is said to represent the sun with the circle whilst the horizontal and vertical lines represent the path it follows. It is also said to represent eternal life, safety and reincarnation too.

Lastly, it is often called “key of life� as well.

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Sri Yantra

Also known as the Sri Chakra, the Sri Yantra is a well known mystical diagram from a school of Hindu tantra. The diagram is made up of triangles that surround the middle point known as a bindu.

It represents many things including allusions to Hindu gods, the union of Masculine and Feminine, and divine consciousness too. Despite these underlying meanings, the Sri Yantra is most commonly known as a symbol of the totality of the cosmos and its relation to the forces of creation that emerge from it (the centre being the cosmos and the triangles representing creative life force that comes from it).

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Om

This symbol is perhaps the most well known Hindu symbol and is one of the most key ideas of Hinduism. Om (also spelled “Aum”) is a spoken mantra said at the end of most Sanskrit recitations and texts. In Hinduism it refers to important ideas of the “Atman” which is the soul and the”Brahman” which is ultimate reality, the truth, knowledge and supreme spirit. Apart from these known ideas, the symbol itself also represents different levels of consciousness: the ‘3’ on the bottom left represents the unconscious and waking state, while the bottom curve is the dream state. Lastly the horizontal line below the dot is the illusion or “maya” one passes to develop their consciousness whilst the dot is the absolute state of consciousness.

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Dharma Wheel

Often used as the universal symbol for Buddhism as the cross is for Christianity; this symbol is used in many Buddhist cultures and is one of its well known symbols along with the Lotus flower. This symbol and the Lotus flower is part of the Eight Auspicious Symbols in Buddhism. The wheel is meant to symbolise the teachings of Gautama Buddha, specifically the idea of reaching Nirvana and finding inner peace. It also relates to the Four noble truths which states that we cling on to impermanent, painful states which keeps us in a loop of unattained satisfaction (samsara) that cycles over and over. Buddhism believed that to break free from this cyclic nature one must reach “Nirvana�, a state where dissatisfaction and suffering will no longer be experienced.

The Dharma wheel is symbolic of this idea and of the essence of Buddhism and its teachings as a whole.

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Lotus Flower

This is a symbol often attributed to Buddhism in this day and age, however the lotus flower is a common symbol to many cultures and people including Buddhists, Hindus and Ancient Egyptians.

The associations of this symbol vary between the different cultures, however all have similarities due to the similar qualities of the flower they observed. The flower is usually observed growing and emerging from a gloomy pond which makes its beauty stand out from the conditions it grows in. Because of this, the lotus flower usually symbolises awakening, purity, growth, and beauty; which is also the Buddhist and Hindu meanings of the symbol. In Egyptian culture the symbol had associations to life, death and rebirth as they placed significance on how the flower supposedly rose out of the water in the day and sank back in at night. Irrespective of the cultural interpretation, all the themes contained in this symbol are similar due to the common observations of the flower itself.

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Eternal Knot

The endless knot, or eternal knot is a part of the Eight Auspicious Symbols in Buddhism.

It is specifically important and widespread in Tibetan Buddhism and areas such as Tibet and Mongolia. It is often depicted in Chinese art as well.

Despite this symbol being from a specific branch of Buddhism, its appearance is still common today, with this symbol often being tattooed. Its popularity is due to its abstract concepts of spirituality, and interconnectedness of time and experience. The symbol has been described as “an ancient symbol representing the interweaving of the Spiritual path, the flowing of Time and Movement within That Which is Eternal. All existence, it says, is bound by time and change, yet ultimately rests serenely within the Divine and the Eternal.� This knot is a popular symbol of Buddhism due to its simplistic aesthetic, and the abstract and appealing concepts that it contains.

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Two Fish

Another symbol that is part of the Eight Auspicious Buddhist Symbols, the two golden fish represent the auspiciousness and favour for success of sentient, conscious beings.

The two fish arranged in harmony with each other represents the beings in a state of fearlessness and being free from the danger of falling into samsara, which is a Sanskrit word that describes “cyclic wandering�, and is one of the main causes of suffering.

There are more intricate explanations of the origins in a religious context however the main ideas to take away from this are fearlessness as well as freedom from falling into stagnant, cyclic repetitions in life.

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Pentagram

Often confused with a similar symbol used to symbolise Satanism (upside down Pentagram), the Pentagram is actually a positive symbol initially associated with Christianity up until the medieval times.

Before then it was said to represent the five wounds of Jesus Christ on the cross, however eventually the church chose the cross as their dominant symbol, and the use of this symbol in Christianity decreased. Since then, it is said to become a symbol representing the spirit (top point) and the four elements of earth, air, fire and water (other points). This symbol signifies feeling a connection with all these elements and respecting the earth, as well as acknowledging the elements that contribute to life.

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Triskele (Triple spiral)

This symbol is one of the harder symbols to evaluate objectively as it has been observed in many cultures around the world in varying periods of time too.

Today, it is associated with Celtic beliefs and is often adopted by Christians that have Celtic heritage. However, it was originally spotted in the Neolithic period (the time after the Paleolithic period) and was used as a symbol of pre-Celtic beliefs, despite being associated with Celtic culture now. Because of the prehistoric time period, it is hard to understand the meanings behind the earliest uses, which is the same issue with most cave art. However, the modern Celtic meaning of the symbol is representative of the holy trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), with each spiral representing an element of it. It is also said to symbolise other triads such as land, sea, or sky as the earth’s contents, as well as past, present, and future describing states of time. This symbol, despite its ambiguities, is indicative of a certain culture and its lasting impact makes it recognisable to those influenced by the ideas it refers to.

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Triquetra

This is a symbol with very similar context and similar ideas contained as the Triskele (triple spiral) on the previous page.

The origins of its uses are fairly unclear as is many other symbols; however we do know it was also used by the Celts and discussed by Christians today too. It is said to stand for the holy trinity as well, with the addition of the circle to represent eternal life.

However, there are people that are skeptical of the original, intended use of the symbol; suggesting it could have been purely decorative too. Even though this symbol’s origins are hard to be sure of, its popularity and continued use (as well as other similar types of symbols) reflects its significance and appeal it has to those that adopt it.

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What we can take away from these symbols is an insight into the cultures and historical contexts that brought them about in the first place.

Similarly to how cave art reflects the people’s ideas, outlook, and lifestyle, these cultural symbols reflect the specific concepts or philosophies of various cultures, religions and nations around the world in the past.

Irrespective of whether or not one is still widespread today, it is still fair to say that exploring the ideas and meanings of these symbols is a good source of learning about the specific ideas of different cultures; but also to compare the common underlying themes such as evolution, harmony, spirituality and balance contained within them.

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PART 2: ARTS AND LITERATURE: SYMBOLISM IN THE ARTS

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We will now explore a more recent period in history to explore when symbolism gained prominence in visual arts and literature; a period when it went from being a medium of visual language to an artistic movement in itself. Exploring the “Symbolism” movement is important for this publication as it explores the roots of when it was first used as a contemporary way of communicating intangible, subjective ideas as well as what this shift in artistic movement says about the people and culture at the time.

“Symbolism” - artistic and literary movement The art movement “Symbolism” emerged in the late 19th century in Europe. It was literary and artistic movement at the time which drew large influences from artistic movements Impressionism and poetry as well. French Symbolist poets “Gustave Kahn and Jean Moréas, who first used the term ‘Symbolism’ in 1886” were pioneers of the movement as they opposed Naturalism, a literary movement based on depicting objective, rational views of reality.

Instead, the Symbolists “sought to express individual emotional experience” through the use of abstraction and symbolic language to convey subjective ideas of the psychological themes as opposed to the concrete external world that movements Naturalism and Impressionism were concerned with.

The Symbolist poets also had a relationship with painters at the time. Well known French poet Stéphane Mallarmé used to host “Symbolist receptions every tuesday” which was joined by many Symbolist painters including Odilon Redon, Edvard Munch, and Paul Gauguin. There are parallels between the catalyst that bought about Symbolist poetry and painting; similarly to the poets being dissatisfied with Naturalistic styles of writing, Symbolist painting was a reaction against movements of Realism and Impressionism which dominated the 1880’s.

Painters including Redon, Munch, Gauguin and even Van Gogh were dissatisfied with the fixation on reason, objectivity and external reality in previous artistic movements. Instead, they aimed to paint in a style based on imagination, intuition and a focus on the inner world as opposed to external reality. The shift towards symbolism in painting and literature signposts the condition and wants of the people as a culture at the time.

Similarly to the artists discontentment with the perceived bleakness of Naturalist/Realist art around 1880, this shift in artistic style suggests a desire within society as a whole to express more subjective, ambiguous themes which resisted the increasingly objective styles that existed.

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This period is significant to our society in ways that are not merely artistic as it reflects the ideas people had towards lifestyle, artistic and literary tendencies at the time, and lastly, the evolution of the cultural and artistic landscape of Europe as the shift to modernism had just begun.

Van Gogh, Gauguin, Munch were all artists that rejected the shift to modernism in favour of abstraction as they resisted the “soullessness of modernism.”

If it is said that art and its shifting eras and movements reflect the culture and state of the people during its time; then it can be said that the start of Symbolism as a movement directly echoes societies rejection of past art movements they felt were dull, too focused on reality and not able to fulfil their abstract and expressive wants and needs from it.

Now that we are exploring the topic of Symbolism as an artistic movement, it seems fairly clear what constitutes artwork to be symbolic in its nature; many viewers would say it is achieved by elements such as colour, composition, and the use of visual motifs with common meanings or abstract feelings associated with them. This is true to an extent, however once we look deeper into the realm of ‘symbolic’ art one question tends to arise:

What differentiates “Symbolist” art from art that contains symbolic elements?

As mentioned earlier, Symbolism was the next movement following Impressionism and was also a reaction against it. The Symbolist artists opposed Impressonism as their main concern was with the abstract, imagination and conceptual, whilst the latter was fixed on naturalism, the physical world and reality- which was everything the Symbolists opposed.

With that being said, one may still point out symbolic characteristics common in works from other movements such as Expressionism, Post-Impressionism, or anything that has an abstract element that may be evocative or ambiguous. The difference between this and the work of the Symbolists is that the meanings are not inherent in the subjects themselves, rather the subjects allude to the idea or concept from an external source.

For artists back then this would have commonly been from the Bible, mythology, or art from the Romanticism era (1800-1850). For a piece to be Symbolic it needs to act as an indicator or sign of an idea being referred to, which makes the subjects and its composition crucial in forming the meaning to the viewer. As the pieces contain essentially subjects with meaning contained within them, it also implies that if one doesn’t know the idea being referred to, it then makes the subjects and the piece purely aesthetic. An effective balance between ambiguity, composition, common imagery and the ability to refer to an idea from an outer source is the essence of Symbolist art.

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1870

1880

1890

Symbolism Movement: Timeline

1900

1910

1920

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Odilon Redon - The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity (1882) Lithograph

Odilon Redon was one of the well known Symbolist artists. In this piece, a single eye is depicted like a balloon, rising out of a swamp and up into the sky. The eye is said to represent the morbid, dark world of the late Edgar Allen Poe’s work; represented as an all-seeing eye, it rises from the swamp and towards the sky, with the eye pointed upwards which suggests looking to the divine.

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Odilon Redon - The Crying Spider (1881) Charcoal on paper

In his work, Redon sought to “place the visible at the service of the invisible”, which meant to reflect abstract contents of his mind through tangible, real life forms.

This dichotomy between the intangible and physical forms is a key idea in Redon’s work as well as other Symbolists. In this piece, a human face of despair is depicted in a spiders body. Spiders often symbolise the power of our choices in shaping our lives, and how we construct them; therefore this painting could represent someone facing despair in reaction to their current state of life or what they built for themselves.

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Edvard Munch - Melancholy (1894) Oil on canvas

Being one of his well known works along with “The Scream”, this piece is known for its expressive and aesthetic qualities. The main focus of the piece is on a man painted in portrait view, while the scenery is the secondary element. The cool, earthy colour palette as well as the geometric, jagged method painting the man as well as his contemplative position conveys the melancholic mood of the subject and the piece very effectively. Also, in the background there are two people (presumably lovers) on a pier about to go on a boat; this motif suggests the reason for the subject feeling that way, which reflects themes of jealousy and despair which were all prevalent ideas and feelings in Munch’s work.

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Edvard Munch - The Dance of Life (1900) Oil on canvas

Despite the title, this painting is indicative of Munch’s melancholic feelings and themes he reflected in his art with rich symbolism. Munch represents different stages of life through the women depicted in thie piece. The main symbols include the virgin on the left, the carnal, adventurous in red, and the aged, satanic in black on the right.

Lastly, the sea is said to represent time, eternity, and death; which suggests Munch’s idea of The Dance of Life is also a dance of death due to the ideas held in the piece.

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Gustav Klimt - Death and Life (1915) Oil on canvas

The juxtaposition between the rich patterns and the more accurate treatment of the natural, human figures creates tension in this famous piece of Klimt, which was one of his last too. The arrangement of the intertwined figures opposite death symbolises the process of life leading towards death, whilst being driven by sexual urges; which was an allusion to Freuds ideas that were circulating that area at the time.

Lastly, the patterns suggest Klimt’s influence by Japanese art, as well as a sense of hope and positivity amidst the intense subject manner.

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James Ensor - Death and the Masks (1897) Oil on canvas

This painting is effective in its subjects, composition and cultural context.

Ensor places focus on the skull in the middle which is painted in a chilling manner with its grin, with the surrounding masks painted in detailed, lifelike colours but with an element of chaos achieved through the composition. It is said that Ensor tried to convey the spiritually hollow state of the bourgeoisie and the overall decadence of his time period through the masks and the skull; and that this state was widespread, indicated by the crowded composition..

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Jan Toorop - The Three Brides (1983) Chalk, pencil and charcoal on paper

Toorop worked in multiple styles including Art Nouveau and Symbolism.

This is a very symbolist piece as it uses clear themes and motifs represented in the painting. Toorop depicts a young woman in the center, that has to choose between two life paths; represented by the women on the left and right. The left symbolises the spiritual life through the woman in the robe, whilst the right symbolised evil through the skulls around her neck and the facial expression.

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In summary, the shifting of the dominant art movement changing from Impressionism to Symbolism is an indication of the late movement having become dated, as well as the people’s discontentment and reaction against it.

A shift in a large movement like this has great cultural implications in reflecting the collective way of thinking of groups of people. This may be their influenced by their outlook, prevalent historical themes or their own wants and needs.

What was reflected from society during the inception of Symbolism was a growing desire to depart from the old rational practice to new, innovative, imaginative methods unexplored.

Similarly to many shifts in movements, this particular change in era was not only relevant to its own area of topic in the arts, but also of the people’s perception of the practice and their dissatisfaction with the current dominating values that are prevalant in society and culture.

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GALLERY: Symbols in painting and the common themes they represent

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As previously discussed, paintings and art forms that utilise Symbolism achieves an extra level of depth in the meaning and ideas contained in a piece.

Symbols can act as visual metaphors, allusions to external references, or visual representations of abstract concepts.

There are common trends in the themes that appear in paintings and art, however to explore them all would be difficult therefore the next few pages will be based on a subset of a larger sum of art and existing symbols, concepts and imagery; there are common themes relating to life, death, nature, and many abstract concepts.

This range of imagery are all different to each other in their own right however are all related to similar underlying themes in one way or another.

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Sun

One of the more common symbols based on forms in nature, the sun has been a positive symbol in art and many cultures around the world. The sun is associated with happiness, vitality and energy, which reflects why the sun has represented feelings of joy and a vital force in life in both recent and ancient cultures.

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Moon

Cycles and eternity are some themes often tied to the moon. It can be used to represent time, the cycles of it; particularly through the phases it goes through.

In Western culture it is also associated with virginity and purity from origins from mythology.

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Skull

The skull is a widespread symbol in art, tattoos and culture.

It is usually used to represent death, mortality, and the concept of memento mori which is the acknowledgement of mortality in an object or art. On the other hand, it was also associated with life and the human body in ancient cultures.

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Raven

This is an interesting symbol as there are many interpretations of the raven. In Greek mythology they are said to be associated with the god of prophecy, and a symbol of bad luck. In Native American culture the raven symbolised a balance of good and bad; that the raven would bring light and darkness to earth.

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Dove

This is another positive symbol; the dove is commonly used as symbol of peace and often used in a religious context too, relating it to the holy spirit. Along with peace they are symbols of love too and is used in Christianity, Paganism, and Judaism.

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Spider

These creatures represent ideas that they reflect in their nature too; these include the ability to create and build resources for their lives (spinning webs), which symbolises patience, persistence, and ability to construct one’s life. They are also associated with mystery, power, and growth, just as the weaving of their webs reflects the human need to construct our own lives.

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Clock

This symbol relates to the skull symbol and the idea of memento mori as clocks and time ultimately allude to life and death.

It represents the constant in nature that is eternal, that preceeds temporary life. It can also be used to represent cycles, repeating events, or concepts such as memory, as used in Salvador Dali’s famous piece, “The Persistence of Memory”.

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Egg

This symbol has positive interpretations that vary across cultures. In the West it is attributed to new life, rebirth, hope, fertility, and potential, whilst in some Asian cultures it is a symbol of luck and wealth.

It has been used in Christianity (Easter Egg) as a symbol of Christ’s resurrection too.

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Eye

Often appearing in art and tattoos, as well as being probably the most significant sensory organ; eyes are used to usually symbolise knowledge, truth, omniscience or the gateway to the soul. Symbols like the All Seeing Eye shows that the number of eyes and composition affect the context and interpretation too.

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Clouds and Rain

This symbol from nature is flexible in its meaning depending on how it is represented; in this case, depending on if it is a clear cloud or a rain cloud as they have two different meanings.

A clear cloud represents the element air, which is associated with higher thought and intellect. On the other hand, a rainy cloud is associated with negative concepts such as doom and sadness.

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Fire

Fire is a very powerful and abstract element in itself.

It is abstract in aesthetic and represents ideas about spirituality, growth, and forces of the universe.

In spirituality it signifies creativity, passion, and growth while also being a pure force that can facilitate life as well as cause destruction.

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Trees

Trees are a fundamental natural form that can be arranged singularly or in the form of a forest.

They generally symbolise characteristics contained in trees themselves; including strength, growth, or even life- as indicated by the popular tree of life symbol.

Other abstract concepts they may allude to include security, health, good luck and fortune.

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In summary, the shifting of the dominant art movement changing from Impressionism to Symbolism is an indication of the late movement having become dated, as well as the people’s discontentment and reaction against it.

A shift in a large movement like this has great cultural implications in reflecting the collective way of thinking of groups of people. This may be their influenced by their outlook, prevalent historical themes or their own wants and needs.

What was reflected from society during the inception of Symbolism was a growing desire to depart from the old rational practice to new, innovative, imaginative methods unexplored.

Similarly to many shifts in movements, this particular change in era was not only relevant to its own area of topic in the arts, but also of the people’s perception of the practice and their dissatisfaction with the current dominating values that are prevalant in society and culture.

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PART 3: ARCHETYPES AND PSYCHOLOGY: COLLECTIVE CONCEPTS

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We will now make a shift as far as the field of study we are exploring. We will shift our focus from symbolic art and literature to common symbols and concepts in psychology - specifically the idea of “Archetypes”, originally coined and popularised by well-renowned modern psychologist Carl Jung.

Exploring this topic may seem like a tangent due to the past 2 sections being about visual and artistic symbolism, however this has significance for our topic of exploration as it has implications towards reflecting common concepts present in everyone’s mind (conscious or subconscious) and society as a whole - which is one of the ideas Jung was known to explore with his ideas and is largely why he is still well known today.

Analytical psychology overview

Jungian vs. Freudian psychology

Analytical psychology (or analytical psychotherapy) is the name used to differentiate the psychoanalytic methods of psychologist Carl Jung to another psychologists work which was similar in nature at the time, Sigmund Freud.

As mentioned above, one of the foundations of Jung’s ideas was his objection towards Freud’s view of childhood conflicts and sexuality being the influential forces in ones psyche; instead, Jung “stressed the analysis of patients’ immediate conflicts as being more Jung and Freud worked together in Jung’s early useful in understanding their problems than the years of his career however they stopped meeting uncovering of childhood conflicts.” each other after coming across polarising disagreements in their theories and their working Another key idea of Jung’s is his development of relationship altogether. the theory of the psyche’s components. Similarly to Freud, he believed the psyche consisted These disagreements would be the end of their of the conscious mind (awareness, cognition) relationship with each other, but would be and the subconscious (memory, intuition). definitive in cementing Jung’s ideas into a new However, he developed the model and coined branch of psychology in itself; a sub-category the term the “Collective unconscious” which within psychoanalysis which opposed Freud’s would be one of his, if not, his most popular ideas which were perceived as dated, irrelevant theory which suggests there is a relationship and too fixated on childhood conflict and sexual and commonalities between the subconscious desires by those who agreed with Jung’s ideas. contents of individuals. Exploring this idea will bring more depth into exploring how symbols and motifs can be recognised objectively and whether or not they reflect universal concepts.

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Key Jungian ideas - Archetypes To understand Jung’s theories and concepts at a glance, it could be said in summary that he developed Freud’s model of the psyche. Since Freud’s model of the psyche was seen as outdated, Jung coined new concepts to develop the model further. Some of his main ideas he is known for aside from the collective unconscious includes the idea of ‘complexes’ and ‘archetypes’. A complex is a pattern made of emotions, memories and perceptions of a person. They revolve around common themes such as power or insecurity, for example.

On the other hand, an archetype is similarly based on themes that exist from the collective unconscious; suggesting there are common themes, symbols and even characters that are intangible but are symbolic of ideas, concepts and traits that are inherited by people. Jung believed “archetypes as universal, archaic patterns and images that derive from the collective unconscious and are the psychic counterpart of instinct”.

Due to the intangible nature of archetypes, they are conveyed through mainly story, art and dreams. Archetypes are even used in a modern context in film and literature as there are common traits and characters that are used largely in arts such as the hero, a wise one, a lover, and even a villain.

For example, you could say that a character like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings reflects the wise old man archetype which is one coined by Jung.

Exploring these themes in the arts is in a way, tapping into the collective concepts from Jung’s and other psychologists work in analytical psychology.

As art, film, literature has reflected these themes for so long, you could suggest that there are concepts, traits and universal patterns present in the makers and viewers of the arts - and the minds of people as a collective.

Archetypes and the collective Complexes are similar to archetypes however they are different in objectivity.

They are formed and rooted in an individuals personal subconscious while archetypes are of the collective mind. One is subjective (complex) and the other is collective or universal (archetype). Jung formed this concept due to the confines of complexes only being applicable to a single persons experience, therefore forming an idea that applies to many people if not, a collective. In essence, archetypes are similar to complexes but act as universal patterns of concepts and behaviours that exist in the collective, and are adopted by people which bring them into reality. This idea is a development of complexes which was an idea that wasn’t applicable to a collective therefore not exploring the idea of a relationship existing between our psyches. This relationship between the collective mind is expressed through its common themes, concepts and behaviours displayed in many people over time.

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“It must be pointed out that just as the human body shows a common anatomy over and above all racial differences, so, too, the psyche possesses a common substratum transcending all differences in culture and consciousness.

I have called this substratum the collective unconscious. This unconscious psyche, common to all mankind, does not consist merely of contents capable of becoming conscious, but of latent dispositions towards certain identical reactions. Thus the fact of the collective unconscious is simply the psychic expression of the identity of brain-structure irrespective of all racial differences. This explains the analogy, sometimes even identity, between various myth-motifs, and symbols, and the possibility of human beings making themselves mutually understood. The various lines of psychic development start from one common stock whose roots reach back into all the strata of the past. This also explains the psychological parallelisms with animals.�

Carl Jung: on the Collective Unconscious

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These ideas of Jung’s are significant as they relate to the topic of a process existing outside of one’s own experience, suggesting that there are mental contents and expressions that are mutual between people- irrespective of racial differences. If so, then it certainly contributes to the widespread appearance of many symbols, concepts and themes in arts and culture as mentioned earlier on. You could say that similarities in the way of thinking and of peoples experiences across different cultures signposts this too.

This collective consciousness is often attributed to instinct

by Jung, almost like a form of a primal reaction. However, the idea of archetypes is a less primal and more complex concept that exists in the collective too. Archetypes are expressed and actualised through people and different common behaviours, although archetypes have also been conveyed through mediums like literature and art. The main idea here is that no matter if you credit or discredit Jung’s ideas mentioned above, it is still fair to say that there is a way of thinking, an underlying trend, or a headspace that exists outside of ourselves that is reflected in our common ways of thinking and behaving. It is significant to acknowledge this common union relating us and our experiences together in order to understand the things we experience collectively and also to put ourselves in that area of thought or headspace when trying to express themes and ideas intended to be accessible, and relatable by the collective.

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GALLERY: Jung’s 12 Archetypes a symbolic representation

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To look deeper into Jung’s idea of archetypes, we will explore the meanings and significance one of his main ideas which is that of the 12 common archetypes. This idea, along with the idea of the ego, the self and collective unconscious are a few of his popular ideas.

This idea in particular is significant as it acts as a model for common characteristics and traits that Jung believed manifested in dreams, myths and the behaviour of people. In a modern context, characters in film and literature are often said to be alluding to these ideas, intentionally or not.

With the above in mind, the following pages will outline the 12 archetypes and their characteristics contained within them.

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Jung’s 12 Archetypes

Ruler

Creator

Caregiver

Innocent

Everyday man

Sage

Jester

Explorer

Rebel

Lover

Hero

Magician

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The Ruler

This archetype loves and strives when they are in control. This is because they feel they have a vision of what works best as a solution for a group or community, causing them to be annoyed when others don’t feel the same.

Despite being frustrated at times, they usually have others best interests at heart even if they have occasional shortcomings.

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Aim: forming a strong family or community Fear: chaos, being taken over Weakness: authoritarian tendencies

Strength: responsibility and leadership

SYMBOLISM, ARCHETYPES, AND UNIVERSAL CONCEPTS

The Creator

The creator archetype is one that is destined to bring something into existence that has not been done before. They don’t like to be passive consumers of materials and would rather create their own entertainment through their activities.

Creators are often artists or musicians however this can be applied to many types of practices.

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Aim: creating things of value

Fear: making nothing notable Weakness: perfectionism, creative blocks

Strength: creativity, imagination

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The Innocent

This archetype is characterised by being drawn to being optimistic, open-minded and always trying to see the good in all corners of life.

On the negative note, those associated with this archetype can be criticised for being naĂŻve too.

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Aim: to be happy

Fear: being punished for wrongdoings

Weakness: trusting others too much Strength: open-mindedness, trust

SYMBOLISM, ARCHETYPES, AND UNIVERSAL CONCEPTS

The Sage

This archetype is one that is most drawn to ideas. The sage archetype wants to learn about everything but are often faced with frustration when realising their inability to do so.

With that being said, they are still good at making complex ideas more comprehensible for others to understand, which makes them often seen in teaching roles too.

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Aim: to use wisdom and intelligence to learn and teach others Fear: ignorance, being seen as stupid Weakness: inability in making decisions

Strength: wisdom, intelligence, curiosity

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The Explorer

The Explorer archetype is on the constant lookout to experience new things. They thrive on exploring new countries and ideas, however they are reluctant and even resistant to settling down on a job or relationship for a long term period of time. They put their search for new experiences first and will settle down if that helps their chances of exploring later on.

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Aim: achieving a diversity of experiences

Fear: getting trapped, conformity Weakness: aimless wandering, never staying still

Strength: sense of wonder, true to their aims

SYMBOLISM, ARCHETYPES, AND UNIVERSAL CONCEPTS

The Rebel

This archetype is one associated with reform and change. The rebel archetype spots an issue and aims to change it- they like to innovate and do things differently. However, this can also bring a compulsive desire for reform, leading them to depart from previously functional ways just for the sake of it.

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Aim: to change what isn’t working Fear: powerlessness

Weakness: compulsive rebellion and change Strength: having unique ideas, inspiring others to join

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The Magician

This archetype is charismatic and is confident in their ideas and what they can share with others.

They have a completely different perspective on things than other personality types which enables them to bring completely new and unique ideas and philosophies to the world.

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Aim: to understand the universe

Fear: unintended negative impacts

Weakness: becoming manipulative, egocentric Strength: enriching peoples lives and perspectives

SYMBOLISM, ARCHETYPES, AND UNIVERSAL CONCEPTS

The Hero

One of the archetypes commonly used in film and art, the hero is the archetype of one that feels a strong duty or destiny they must fulfil for others. Their nature and purpose is in being strong and standing up for others, which entails resisting even the most powerful forces if that’s what it takes to achieve justice.

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Aim: helping others

Fear: showing weakness Weakness: arrogance

Strength: courage, strength, ability

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The Lover

This archetype is associated with peace and harmony. The lover seeks harmony in all facets of life. They find it difficult to face conflict and to stand up for themselves and their views when facing more assertive personalities.

They thrive when they have good, harmonious relationships with people but they also fear feeling unloved.

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Aim: harmony with people, work, and their environment Fear: feeling unwanted

Weakness: desire to please others risks own identity Strength: passion, appreciation

SYMBOLISM, ARCHETYPES, AND UNIVERSAL CONCEPTS

The Jester

Another archetype serving others; the jester loves to uplift the atmosphere in a room with humour and tricks, however they have a deep soul.

They may want to make others happy through their humour, however they often use humour to mask their own pain.

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Aim: uplift the world and make people laugh Fear: being seen as boring

Weakness: frivolity, masking emotions with humour

Strength: using humour for a positive change

PART 3 ARCHETYPES AND PSYCHOLOGY

Everyday Man/Woman

The everyday man/woman archetype is that of grounded, dependable realists. They are grounded to reality so they are pragmatic and realistic, however that brings negativity and cynicism at times too. They are looking for a place they belong in the world and their openness and pragmatism will help them along the way.

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Aim: belonging

Fear: being left out of the crowd Weakness: overly cynical

Strength: pragmatism, honest, open and grounded

SYMBOLISM, ARCHETYPES, AND UNIVERSAL CONCEPTS

The Caregiver

This archetype is another one based on a purpose for others. The caregiver archetype is full of empathy and compassion.

Their constant willingness to help others comes with the chance of others exploiting their assistance which makes paying attention to themselves important as well.

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Aim: helping others

Fear: being seen as selfish

Weakness: being used by others Strength: kindness, empathy

PART 3 ARCHETYPES AND PSYCHOLOGY

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Jung’s ideas relevant to this publication is in its conceptual value; particularly the traits, concepts, and archetypes explored in the previous pages that provide a very concise, symbolic, and iconic way of expressing these concepts.

Archetypes, artistic symbolism, as well as the collective concepts and themes they represent, suggests that there is a relationship between everyone in an expressive and psychological sense - both in the common ideas and motifs used, as well as inherent traits and characteristics that appear.

The symbols, archetypes, artwork and the concepts explored in this publication hopefully capture an idea of what forms this universal relationship between the abstract, expressive and artistic, with the collective mind.

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PART 4 1 PREHISTORIC GREATER SIGNIFICANCE SYMBOLISM

PART 4: SIGNIFICANCE TO THE WORLD, APPLICATION AND INSIGHTS

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What does it all mean?

Why is this topic significant?

What can be taken away from reading this?

Does this project provide depth and clarity to the design issue and the aim of publication?

What significance does all the topics explored in this publication hold? How are all the different parts throughout this publication related to one another and in what way do they contribute to the same aim and narrative? To contextualise these topics together it would be detrimental towards the whole publication to look for one single element that the topics all have in common, as this publication is not only focused on arts nor is it just about cave painting or psychology.

Instead, this publication needs to be read and considered with an open mind that is able to consider the artistic, historical, social and even psychological implications of the topics covered in this book. This is partially because each part relates strongly to a certain topic, but also if you only read it in the frame of interpretation of psychology for example, you constrain your perspective to only absorb the ideas that apply to psychology, thus missing out on other parts of the publication that may have significance towards other topics.

With that being said, there is a general idea or hypothesis that this publication is working towards to relate all the parts together under the same narrative and purpose of publication which is exploring how these symbols and visual language (as well as the circumstances that brought them into existence) serve as a means of expressing and understanding concepts, values and ideas that are common across cultures, regions and groups of people. Exploring how they are impactful and their social and cultural implications could perhaps be the essence of this publication.

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PART 4 GREATER SIGNIFICANCE

Looking back on the three parts of this publication, it is fair to ask what unifying element relates the topics together; as prehistoric art, fine art and psychology all seem to be their own respective areas of study, what could possibly be relating the three subjects together when they seem to be such separate areas of exploration in their own right.

To come to an evaluation of the greater significance and relationship between these subjects, we need to explore not only the specific topic at hand (prehistoric art, fine art, psychology) but rather look beyond the topics in itself and explore what common social, cultural, and historical processes of human development it serves to help us understand. As mentioned previously, if a subject like fine art is said to reflect the state of a culture and the prevalent ideas that dominated it, then it is fair to say that other areas of study, especially ones with direct human implications such as psychology, has a lot of insight to be gained in relation to what it tells us about collective symbols, concepts and universal ideas or processes that have helped us express ourselves better and grow over time.

Despite the great difference in the level of development of culture and time periods between the primitive art (Paleolithic) era and the Symbolist arts movement, there are still common elements contained in the two time periods that has a lot to say about common ideas and processes in humanity that can be reflected from the two eras. A notable theme present in the arts both old and new is a driving social force that acts as the catalyst for the evolution of artistic practice and era, as well as the development of the ideals of the people which is echoed in the artwork from respective time periods and is highly influential in shifting the cultural landscape too in both an artistic and social context.

Keeping this in mind one can approach the issues explored in this publication with an open mind that is more likely to see the connections between these seemingly unrelated topics.

The driving force, or catalyst that contributed to the evolution of the arts (prehistoric and recent) were in part reactions to specific historical contexts, however with the same social and cognitive issues that play a part too. The increasing complexity in artistic and symbolic qualities of prehistoric art explored earlier on were said to be indicative of a development in lifestyle (departing from past hunter gatherer ways of life) as well as cognition and mental processes of people at the time, as outlined by the neuropsychological interpretation of prehistoric art in part one. These ideas seem unrelated to the evolution of art in recent years during the Symbolist movement, however they share the same aspect of being brought about by some process of social and/or cultural development. If prehistoric art and symbolism was bought about by people needing to communicate in a way that’s never been done before, then the inception of the Symbolist art movement was also brought about by a similar underlying issue, only in a different historical context.

Lastly, bearing in mind not only what caused this shift in complexity in language but rather what its purpose and application was at the time, is also a large factor in evaluating the significance of those time periods as well as the common social forces between them. In this case, prehistoric art and Symbolist art were brought about in different circumstances, however, despite the difference between the two eras, they are similar in the way that both time periods are an example of times that people have evolved culturally and artistically in order to grow cognitively, expand their mediums for expression and to move towards new ways of communication that is more effective, rational/abstract, and most importantly, fulfilling the people’s wants and needs that past language forms couldn’t fulfill.

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The same can be said about psychology and Jung’s ideas of the collective unconscious and archetypes. Similarly to how Symbolism as a movement was a reaction against Impressionism, Jung’s ideas were a reaction against Freud’s late ideas too. This was partly due to their personal disagreements but it is also because Freud’s ideas were seen as dated and not applicable to exploring the idea of the collective that Jung was concerned with.

This reaction against a movement, similaly to what caused art movements to shift, also indicates that even in psychology ideas get dated, and people become dissatisfied with past ideas or concepts that have become dated.

Jungian psychology coming to prominence may have been brought about as a reaction against Freud’s work, however you could also say it is indicative of the shift in peoples concerns of the subject departing from that of the past, and that the social and cultural issues that drives art to evolve may be influential in driving other areas such as psychology to develop further too, as the people’s perception of a practice is largely influential in determining the state and direction of the subject.

It may be difficult to evaluate and explore very broad, perhaps overwhelming topics like the ones in this publication to a sufficient amount of detail and understanding, especially if they are going to be explored in relation to one another. What we did in this publication was set a clear objective and purpose of the publication to act as a unifying element that contextualises all the topics included together under one issue.

These underlying ideas common throughout the book I would say include cultural contexts, development and growth of cognitive and expressive abilities, symbols and their meanings, and lastly how they all contribute to indicating ideas and concepts of the collective. I hope that in having read this publication the reader will have found interest and value in exploring these topics with an open mind, in order to find the many parallels between them in the symbolistic, semiotic and artistic qualities of the publication as well as the many cultural and historical implications that are also carried in the sections. Lastly, an exploration of these topics in depth as well as their greater cultural implications- all explored within a human centred narrative- creates a concise, interesting and well-rounded narrative of how the artistic, social, and cultural evolution of humans is influenced by each time period’s circumstances and is reflected in the art of the time.

This publication, the cultural contexts/issues, and the artwork/concepts that emerged from it all contributes to a narrative that suggests that this development of our artistic, cultural and psychological headspace is indicative of not only human development but ultimately, a greater human desire to communicate in more complex, abstract, expressive means as a way of communicating more effectively and understanding the world around us, the universal ideas that we all relate to, as well as understanding each other and ourselves.

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Bibliography Sources arranged in chronology of use and appearance in publication

Introduction and Part 1 (Paleolithic symbolism and art) F. Facchini 2000, Symbolism in Prehistoric Man, Department of Experimental Evolutionary Biology, University of Bologna, viewed 6 Aug 2018, Available at: <https://pdfs.semanticscholar. org/d93d/76696763477ff0568748f6243177c6bf18b8.pdf>.

P. Bouissac 1998, Encyclopedia of Semiotics, Oxford University Press, Oxford University, viewed 8 Aug 2018, Available at: <http://www.semioticsigns.com/articlesofinterest/2007_09_20/ encyclopedia.pdf>.

H. Christopher 2014, Origins of Symbolic Behaviour, Department of Archeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion, University of Bergen, viewed 11 Aug 2018, Available at: <https://www. accessscience.com/content/origins-of-symbolic-behavior/YB140807>.

“Prehistory” (2018). Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Viewed 11 Aug 2018, Available at: <http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop_music>.

Encyclopaedia Britannica 2018, “Paleolithic Period”, Anthropology, Encyclopaedia Brittanica Inc, Viewed 14 Aug 2018, Available at: <https://www.britannica.com/event/Paleolithic-Period>.

N. Collins 2018, Pictographs, Prehistoric Pictorial Symbols: Types, Meaning, Encyclopedia of Stone Age Art, Viewed 14 Aug 2018, Available at: <http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/ pictographs.htm>.

N. Collins 2018, Chauvet Cave Paintings, Encyclopedia of Stone Age Art, Viewed 14 Aug 2018, Available at: <http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/chauvet-cave-paintings.htm>.

McKie, R 2012, ‘Did Stone Age cavemen talk to each other in symbols?’, The Guardian, Viewed 14 Aug 2018, Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/mar/11/cave-paintingsymbols-language-evolution>.

J.P. Miller & P. Robinson 2011, Ancient Symbols In Rock Art, Bradshaw Foundation, Viewed 14 Aug 2018, Available at: <http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/ancient_ symbols_in_rock_art/index.php>.

National Geographic 2016, Genevieve von Petzinger, National Geographic, Viewed 14 Aug 2018, Available at: <https://www.nationalgeographic.org/explorers-festival/2016/ emerging-explorers/genevieve-von-petzinger/>.

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P. Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Arcy 2017, What the mysterious symbols made by early humans can teach us about how we all evolved, ideas.Ted.com, Viewed 14 Aug 2018, Available at: <https://ideas.ted. com/what-the-mysterious-symbols-made-by-early-humans-can-teach-us-about-howwe-evolved/>/ A. George 2016, Code hidden in Stone Age art may be the root of human writing, New Scientist, Viewed 15 Aug 2018, Available at: <https://www.newscientist.com/article/ mg23230990-700-in-search-of-the-very-first-coded-symbols/>.

Part 2 - Symbolic art and literature The Art Story. (2018). Symbolism Movement, Artists and Major Works, Viewed 20 Sep 2018, Available at: <https://www.theartstory.org/movement-symbolism.htm>.

Tate. (n.d.). Symbolism â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Art Term | Tate, Viewed 20 Aug 2018, Available at: <https:// www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/symbolism>.

Wikipedia.org. (2018). Naturalism (literature), Viewed 21 Aug 2018, Available at: https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalism_(literature)>.

Encyclopedia Britannica. (2018). Symbolism | literary and artistic movement, Viewed 21 Aug 2018, Available at: <https://www.britannica.com/art/Symbolism-literary-andartistic-movement#ref705>.

Part 3/4 - Archetypes World, P. (2018). Carl Jung: Archetypes and Analytical Psychology. [online] Psychologistworld.com, Viewed 29 Sep 2018, Available at: <https://www. psychologistworld.com/cognitive/carl-jung-analytical-psychology>.

Wikipedia.org. (2018). Complex (psychology). [online] Viewed 30 Sep 2018, Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_(psychology)>.

Jung, C. (2018). Carl Jung - Quotes. [online] Carl-jung.net, Viewed 2 Oct 2018, Available at: <https://www.carl-jung.net/quotes.html>.

Pursey, K. (2016). What Are the 12 Archetypes and Which One Dominates Your Personality. [online] Learning Mind, Viewed 3 Oct 2018, Available at: <https://www. learning-mind.com/12-archetypes/>.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Images and paintings Clottes, J. (2015). Chauvet–Pont d’Arc | cave, France. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica, Viewed 15 Aug 2018, Available at: <https://www.britannica.com/place/Chauvet-PontdArc>.

Foundation, B. (2010). Visiting the chauvet cave. [online] Bradshaw Foundation, Viewed 16 Aug 2018, Available at: <http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/chauvet/page4.php>.

Marc, F. (1913). The Tower of Blue Horses. [Oil on canvas] unknown: unknown.

Redon, O. (1882). The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity. [Lithograph on chine appliqué] New York: Museum of Modern Art. Redon, O. (1881). The Crying Spider. [Charcoal on paper] unknown: unknown.

Munch, E. (1894). Melancholy. [Oil on canvas] unknown: Private collection.

Munch, E. (1900). The Dance of Life. [Oil on canvas] Oslo: National Gallery of Norway.

Klimt, G. (1915). Death and Life. [Oil on canvas] Vienna: Leopold Museum.

Ensor, J. (1897). Death and the Masks. [Oil on canvas] unknown: unknown.

Toorop, J. (1893). The Three Brides. [Chalk, pencil and charcoal on paper] Munich: Kröller-Müller Museum.

Carl Jung: Forever Jung. (1999). [image], Viewed 30 Sep 2018, Available at: <http://www. vision.org/visionmedia/biography-carl-jung/50365.aspx>.

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About the author: Jack Harper

I have been living in Melbourne since 2017 and am originally from Thailand. What drove me to study graphic design was my background in fine art, particularly painting as it was the first abstract medium of expression that I immediately found interesting and wanted to have a career in a field with a similar thought process - which lead me to studying this course!

Fine art and design also leads into why I produced this book. This is because I initially wanted to make a publication based on art or design movements however, I realised that has been done many times before.

Therefore, I switched my topic of choice to something that may be strange or obscure, but hopefully is more exciting and original in content - and is still a topic suitable for a publication design project.

With that being said, I hope this book is enjoyable both to read and flip through, and that it creates some interest in this topic for everyone that reads or views it.

Thank you for your time!

For design inquiries, contact me at: jack@harperpixels.com www.harperpixels.com

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